Poetry's Big Daddy

Thirty Years AgoVictorian melodrama, on the other hand, does not lie high on anybody’s list of significant art. It is not even a current art, one worth attacking in order to raise the quality of taste; it is as dead as Queen Victoria herself. — “LOW NECK LINES,”Jonathan Saville, December 14, 1978

Twenty-Five Years AgoSeveral weeks ago the Tribune published a two-page map of San Diego with more than 70 named residential districts.… The community traditionally referred to as Southeast San Diego has been broken up into nine neighborhoods — Chollas View, Valencia Park, Emerald Hills, Lomita Village, Skyline District, one unnamed blank, and three unconnected patches he still calls Southeast San Diego. The hazy boundary between Old Town and Loma Portal around Midway Drive has been named the Midway District. The corridor between downtown and Old Town just east of Pacific Highway, previously referred to as South Mission Hills, is called Middletown. Other new neighborhoods include Birdland (east of Linda Vista) and Kensington-Talmadge (so much confusion existed among residents that he chose a compromise). — CITY LIGHTS: “I’VE GOT THIS REALLY NICE LITTLE PLACE IN LEMON MESA,” Thomas K. Arnold, December 15, 1983

Twenty Years AgoBishop Leo T. Maher of the diocese of San Diego turns 75 on July 1, 1990, and the local clergy rumor circuit is already brimming with speculation about his replacement.

Nevertheless, the local priests have been hearing the same names rumored to be on the short list for Maher’s replacement. They include Fr. Lawrence Purcell, who is attached to the San Diego diocese but currently holds the prestigious position of rector of the North American College in Rome, and Fr. Richard Duncanson, rector of the St. Francis Seminary in San Diego. — CITY LIGHTS: “THE NEXT BISHOP,”Neal Matthews, December 15, 1988

Fifteen Years AgoIt’s a movie you will never see. A smart black youngster excels at baseball and basketball, but in his 20s he becomes a poet. Quincy Troupe’s career is full of such surprises. Though he is of the build — 220 pounds, 6 foot 2 — that makes him scary to many whites, he is able to persuade members of the white establishment to back his programs.

When he gave a party on the occasion of the publication of one of his magazines, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis showed up. Only someone with Troupe’s energy and dedication could draw thousands of people to a series of New York poetry readings sponsored by the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center, named for the 19th-century abolitionist. — “QUINCY TROUPE GOES WEST,”Ishmael Reed, December 16, 1993

Ten Years AgoThe ’80s Server (www.80s.com), a big website that, as its name suggests, is a lot more than a site. The ’80s Server functions as a hub for a whole decade; everything here is, like, megabig, you know what I mean?… [T]he generous archive of the server’s Awesome Site of the Day, where lie such gems as the Paula Abdul Fansite, the Joanie Loves Chachi Page, Kelster’s James Spader Page, and the Classic Canadian Rock Page. The ’80s Server also offers a Spotlight link, where it focuses on one major event or phenomenon of the decade, such as Hands Across America, the Pac-Man Story, or ’80s fashion, from acid-washed jeans to the Michael Jackson “Thriller” jacket. — SIGHTSEER: “SPACE INVADERS,”Justin Wolff, December 17, 1998

Five Years AgoThe Union-Tribune’s Bob Kittle fired the first volley last week in what is widely expected to be the paper’s rough treatment of city attorney candidate Michael Aguirre. Kittle used his position as perennial member of the SDSU-run KPBS’s Editor’s Roundtable to blast Democrat Aguirre — who represented plaintiffs in an unsuccessful legal battle against the U-T-favored Chargers ticket guarantee — as a “loose cannon.” — CITY LIGHTS: “SHOWING THEIR HAND,”Matt Potter, December 11, 2003